Area History: Chapters 32 - 37: Vol II - Watson's Annals of Philadelphia And Pennsylvania, 1857 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by EVC. USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ____________________________________________________________ ANNALS of PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA, VOL. II ______________________________________________ Chapter 32. ANTHRACITE COAL. "I sat beside the glowing grate, fresh heap'd With Lehigh coal, and as the flame grew bright -- The many coloured flame -- and play'd and leap'd, I thought of rainbows and the northern light, And other brilliant matters of the sort." When the anthracite coal up the Schuylkill at Mount Carbon &c., was first effectively discovered -- since the year 1800, it was deemed of little value, because they could devise no way to ignite it -- a character which its name sufficiently denotes. About the year 1810-11 however, a practical chemists, I believe an Englishman, his name unknown to fame or me, combining science with practice, made such an analysis of the coal as convinced him there was inherent in the mass all the properties suited for combustion. He therefore erected a furnace in a small vacant house on the causeway road (Beech street) leading over to Kensington. To this he applied three strong bellows; these succeeded to give out such an immense white heat from the coal as to melt platina itself ! From this experiment, at which two of my friends were present as invited witnesses, were derived such proofs as led to its future general use in our city. It was in the year 1808 that Judge Fell, at Wyoming, made the first experiment to use that coal in a grate of his own construction; a measure in which he succeeded far beyond his expectations. Before that time they had used it only for smith-work. It was first so used in 1768-9 by Obadiah Gore (an early settler of Wyoming) and afterwards by all the smiths there. The Mount Carbon coal was known to exist in the neighbourhood more than fifty years ago; and some search was made, but the coal found being so very different from any which was previously known, it was not thought to be of any value, and the search was abandoned. It is supposed to be fifty years since a blacksmith by the name of Whetstone, found coal and used it in his smithshop. At a very early period, Judge Cooper declared his belief of the existence of coal in the district, and the Messrs. Potts explored various places along the old Sunbury road, but success did not attend their operations. A Mr. William Morris afterwards became the proprietor of most of the coal lands at the head of our canal; he found coal, and took some quantity to Philadelphia about the year 1800; but all his efforts to bring it into use failed, and he abandoned the project, and sold his lands to their late proprietor, Mr. Potts. It does not appear that much notice was taken of the coal from the time of Whetstone and the search made by the Messrs. Potts, until about thirty years ago, when a person by the name of Peter Bastrus, a blue-dyer, in building the valley forge, found coal in the tailrace. About the same time, a Mr. David Berlin, a blacksmith in this neighbourhood permanently, commenced and introduced the use of stone coal in the smith's forge, and continued to use and instruct others in its use many years afterwards. But old habits again became victorious, and appear to have held undisputed sway until about the year 1812, when Mr. George Shoemaker, a present inn-keeper at Pottsville, and Nicholas Allen, discovered coal on a piece of land they had purchased now called Centreville. Allen soon became disheartened, and gave up the concern to Shoemaker who, receiving encouragement from some gentlemen in Philadelphia, got out a quantity of coal, and took nine wagon-loads to Philadelphia. Here again, our coal met with a host of opposition. On two wagon-loads Mr. S. got the carriage paid; the others he gave away to persons who would attempt to use them. The result was against the coal; those who tried them pronounced them stone and not coal, good for nothing and Shoemaker an imposter ! At length, after a multitude of disappointments, and when Shoemaker was about to abandon the coal and return home, Messrs. Mellon and Bishop, of Delaware county, made an experiment with some of the coal in their rolling mill, and found them to succeed beyond expectation, and to be a highly valuable and useful fuel. The result of their experiments was published at the time in the Philadelphia papers. Some experiments with the coal were made in the works at the falls of Schuylkill, but without success. Mr. Wernwag, the manager at the Phoenix works at French creek, also made trial of the coal, and found it eminently useful. >From that time forward, the use of the coal spread rapidly, and now bids fair to become a most important and valuable branch of trade, and to produce results highly beneficial to the interests of Pennsylvania generally. The foregoing statement may appear minute, but it is due to the individuals who laboured to force us to see the great benefit which coal is and will be to our state. We are aware that the credit of pointing out the use, and perhaps of discovering the anthracite, has been claimed by and awarded to individuals in another part of our state; but it is within the knowledge of many that those individuals joined in pronouncing the coal good for nothing. We have abundant testimony also for the facts and dates we have given; from which it appears that to Mr. David Berlin, George Shoemaker, and Messrs. Mellon and Bishop, we are indebted for the discovery of the use and introduction of our anthracite or stone coal. The Lehigh Coal Company was originated in 1773 on a very small scale, and began its career by purchasing the tract of Jacob Weiss on which is the large opening on Summit hill, nine miles up from Mauch Chunk. The difficulty and expense of transportation were however such as to dishearten the stockholders, and the property was permitted to lie idle for some years. The first and second coal regions were then entirely unknown. Coal had only been found on the Summit hill, and at the Beaver meadows; but even there they had no conception of any continuous strata for miles. Indeed, the old coal company had offered a bonus of $200 to any one who should discover coal on their lands nearer to the Lehigh then the Summit mine, and got no claims for discovery. In the mean time, however, coal was used for the forge fires of the blacksmiths in the neighbourhood and also in some of the bar rooms in the taverns along the roads not distant. The country at that time (1800) was extremely wild -- from Stoddartsville to Lausanne -- places now so familiarly known -- making an intervening distance of thirty-five miles along the Lehigh with not one human habitation. Lands, along such a rugged and deep ravine of country, bore no selling value -- for none foresaw any means to bring its timber to market. There were but thirteen houses above the Gap in the Blue mountain, including even the towns of Lausanne and Lehighton. Rafts had been sent during freshets from Lausanne downward, but none had ever come down from above that point. Since then, such has been the consumption of timber to make coal arks, as to use four hundred acres a year, and to threaten soon to exhaust the whole ! From this cause, a back water navigation has been constructed along the Delaware &c., so as to return the coal boats. But to return to the history of the progress of coal production, viz.: In 1807, the coal company for the purpose of bringing their coal into notice, gave a lease of twenty-one years of one of their coal veins to Rowland and Butland, gratis, for the manufacture of iron from the ore and coal to be dug. It failed of success. In 1813, the coal company gave a lease of ten years of their lands to Messrs. Miner, Cist and Robinson, conditioned that they should take to market annually 10,000 bushels of coal, to their own profit. Five arks were despatched. Three of them wrecked in the Lehigh -- two reached Philadelphia, and the business was abandoned. White and Hazard gave $20 a ton for that coal for their wire manufactory, and yet it was not enough to quit costs. That attempt, however, led to future results of permanent good; for in 1817, White and Hazard, from the need of such coal, were induced to visit the Lehigh with Mr. George Kauts, and there the three contracted with the coal company, on a lease for twenty years, on condition that they should take 40,000 tons of coal annually for their own benefit. In 1818, they procured a legislative grant to improve the navigation of the Lehigh -- a measure deemed almost chimerical by many. After some time they procured a stock association, and went on from year to year expanding and improving -- taking however, but little coal to market until the year 1820 -- when they got to Philadelphia 365 tons "as the first fruits of the concern !" Little as that was, it completely stocked the market, and was sold off with difficulty ! It increased each subsequent year up to 1824 -- making in that year a delivery of 9541 tons. In 1825, it run up to 28,393 tons, and kept along at nearly that rate until 1832, when it delivered 70,000 tons. From that time it went on regularly increasing, until now in 1839 it has delivered 221,850 tons. And now that it has got its momentum, who can guess where it will end ! It will be observed, that no regular sale of anthracite coal was effected in the Philadelphia market till the year 1825. It may be remarked also, that the manner of using the descending navigation by artificial freshets is the first on record as a permanent measure. Gen. James Clinton had, in 1770, so contrived to raise the waters of the east branch of the Susquehanna by making a sluice dam across the outlet of Otsego lake, and so caused his division to pass onward by the raised waters. "Dark anthracite ! that reddenest on my hearth, Thou in those inland mines didst slumber long, But now thou art come forth to move the earth, And put to shame the men that mean thee wrong; And warm the shins of all that underrate thee. Yea, they did wrong thee fully -- they, who mock'd Thy honest face and said Thou wouldst not burn, Of hewing thee to chimney-pieces, talked And grew profane -- and swore in bitter scorn, That men might to thy inner caves retire, And there, unsinged, abide the day of fire. Yet is thy greatness high. Thou too shall be Great in thy turn -- and wide shall spread thy fame And swiftly -- farthest Maine shall hear of thee, And cold New Brunswick gladden at thy name, And, faintly through its sleets, the weeping isle, That send the Boston folks their cod, shall smile. For thou shall forge vast railways, and shalt heat The hissing rivers into steam, and drive Huge masses from thy mines, on iron feet Walking their steady way, as if alive, Northward, till everlasting ice besets thee, And south, as far as the grim Spaniard lets thee. Thou shall make mighty engines swim the sea, Like its own monsters -- boats that for a guinea Will take a man to Havre -- and shall be The moving soul of many a spinning jenny, And ply thy shuttles, till a bard can wear As good a suit of broadcloth as the May'r. Then we will laugh at winter, when we hear The grim old churl about our dwellings rave : Thou from that "ruler of th' inverted year" Shalt pluck the knotty sceptre Cowper gave, And pull him from his sledge, and drag him in, And melt the icicles off his chin. Heat will be cheap -- a small consideration Will put one in a way to raise his punch, Set lemon trees, and have a cane plantation -- `Twill be a pretty saving to the Lunch. Then the West India negroes may go play The banjo, and keep endless holiday." (Additional : See Appendix -- Doctor Thomas C. James account of the discovery and use of Anthracite Coal. 5th story in the Chapter.) Chapter 33. WATERING PLACES "And when too much repose brings on the spleen, And the gay city's idle pleasures cloy, Swift as my changing wish, I change the scene, And now the country --- now the town -- enjoy." The practice of summer travelling among the gentry and their imitators is quite a modern affair. Our forefathers, when our cities were small and pump water still uncontaminated, found no place more healthy than their homes; and generally they liked the country best "when visited from town". From that cause there were very few country-seats in existence; and what there were, were so near as to be easily visited on foot, "not for the good and friendly too remote" -- to call. Thus the Rev. Gilbert Tennant's place, Bedminister, was at the corner of Brewer's alley and Fourth street. Burges' place and Mitchell's place were in Campington. Two or three were out in Spring Garden, on the northern side of Pegg's run; Hamilton's place was at Bush-hill; Penn's place was close by at Springettsbury; and lastly, Kinsey's place, where is now the Naval Asylum, and Turner's place, Wilton, was down near Girard's farm. All these were rather rarities than a common choice. As population and wealth increased, new devices of pleasure were sought, and some inland watering places began to be visited, chiefly however at first, for the good they might be supposed to offer to the infirm. Next in order came sea bathing, most generally used at first by the robust -- by those who could rough it -- such as could bear to reach the sea shore in a returning "Jersey wagon" and who depended on their own supply of "small stores" sheets, and blankets, &c. Increase of such company, in time, afforded sufficient motive to residents on the favourite beaches to make such provision for transient visiters as could not conveniently make their own supply. Thus, yearly, such places of resort grew from little to greater, and by degrees to luxury and refinement. It is still, however, within the memory of several of the aged, when the concomitants of sea bathing before the Revolution, were rough as its own surges, and for that very reason, produced better evidences of positive benefits to visiters, in the increase of robust feelings, than they do now. But last in order, in the progress of luxury, came the last device of pleasure in travelling excursions -- now "boxing the compass" to every point. The astonishing increased facilities of communications have diminished distances. Steamboats transfer us to far distant places before we have fairly tried the varieties of a single day and night of their operation ! Post-coaches and fleet horses roll us as easy as on our couches : New England and northern tours occur -- the Grand canal and Niagara are sought; westward, we have Mount Carbon and the line of new canals; and homeward, "round about" we have the wonders of Mauch-Chunk, Carbondale, the Morris canal, Catskill mountain, and the everlasting battlements of the North river. In such excursions much is seen to gratify the eye, and much to cheer the heart. "The verdant meads, the yellow waving corn, The new-mown hay, the melody of birds, The pomp of groves -- the sweets of early morn." Scenes like these, oft times varied, and sometimes combined with sea scenes, are ever grateful. "The music, The dash of ocean on the winding shore;" "How they cheer the citizen, And brace his languid frame !" We proceed now to notice historically the only "watering places" known to our forefathers, placing them much in the order in which they occurred, to wit : "The mineral water in the Great valley" thirty miles from Philadelphia, was first announced as a valuable discovery in the year 1722. In the same year, great praise is bestowed on the newly discovered mineral water at "Bristol spring". In 1770, such was the decreased fame of the Yellow springs, in Chester county, that it was deplored as a public evil that it had been so deserted; although its efficacy of waters and charms of scenery and accommodation were still undiminished -- at the beginning (fifty years before). It was stated that from one to five hundred persons daily had been accustomed to be found there in the summer months. We think "Long beach" and "Tucker's beach" in point of earliest attraction as a sea-shore resort for Philadelphians, must claim the precedence. They had their visiters and distant admirers long before Squam, or Deal or even Long Branch itself had got their several fame. To those who chiefly desire to restore languid frames and to find their nerves new-braced and firmer strung, nothing can equal the invigorating surf and genial air. And what can more affect the eye and touch the best affections of the heart, than there to think of Him who made those great waves -- stalking like so many giants to the shore -- tossing their white crests high against the everlasting strand, and calling to each other, in the deep-toned moans of imprisoned spirits struggling to be free ! In the beautiful language of our country-woman, Mrs. Sigourney, we may say --- "Thou speak'st a God, thou solemn, holy sea ! Alone upon thy shore, I rove and count The crested billows in their ceaseless play; And when dense darkness shrouds thy awful face, I listen to thy voice and bow me down, In all my nothingness, to Him whose eye Beholds thy congregated world of waves But as a noteless dew drop !" "Long Branch" last but greatest in fame, because the fashionables who rule all things have made it so, is still inferior as a surf, to those above named. It was held before the Revolution by Colonel White, a British officer and an inhabitant at New York. The small house which he owned and occupied as a summer retreat, is still existing in the clump now much enlarged by Renshaw. In consequence of the war, the place was confiscated and fell into other hands, and finally for the public good. That house was first used as a boarding house by our fellow citizen, Elliston Perot, Esq., in 1788. At that time the whole premises were in charge of an old woman left there to keep them from injury. Of her Mr. Perot begged an asylum for his family, which was granted, provided he could hire his beds and bedding of others. Being pleased with the place, he repeated his visits the three succeeding years, taking with him other friends. In 1790-1, Mr. M'Night, of Monmouth, witnessing the liking shown to the place, deemed it a good speculation to buy it. He bought the whole premises, containing one hundred acres of land for £700, and then got Mr. Perot and others to loan him 2000 dollars to improve it. He then opened it for a public watering place; and before his death it was supposed he had enriched himself, by the investment, as much as 40,000 dollars. The estate was sold out to Renshaw for about 13,000 dollars. The table fare of those companies who first occupied the house under the old woman's grant consisted chiefly of fish, and such salted meats as the visiters could bring with them. All then was much in the rough style of bachelor's fare. Prior to the above period, "Black point", not far off, was the place of bathing. They had no surf there, and were content to bathe in a kind of waterhouse, covered; even Bingham's great house near there indulged no idea of surf-bathing. The tavern entertainment at Black point was quite rude compared with present Long Branch luxuries; cocoanut pudding, and floating-islands &c., were delicacies not even known in our cities ! Indeed we cannot but see that the most of former summer excursions were but for the men. They were generally deemed too distant and rough for female participation. But later improvements in roads, and a far more easy construction of spring-carriages, have since brought out their full proportion of ladies -- gladdening the company along the route by those feminine attractions which lessen our cares and double our joys. Thus giving an air of gaiety and courtesy to all the steamboats, stage-coaches, and inns, where they enter, and thus alluring us to become the greatest travellers in our summer excursions to be found in the world ! From these causes, country-seats, which were much resorted to after the year 1793, are fast falling into disuse, and probably will not again recover their former regard. See Appendix "Sea-shore watering places -- Cape May -- Long Beach &c., 1822-3." Chapter 34. CANALS, RAILROADS, TURNPIKES Make freighted barks beyond the mountains stray --- New States exulting, see the flitting sails Waft joy and plenty round the peopled vales ! In some parts of the Union a very erroneous opinion prevails, that the United States are indebted wholly to the example of New York, for the active and beneficial spirit of internal improvement, which pervades the whole confederacy of states. The splendour of their justly acknowledged grand enterprise appears to have eclipsed the brilliance of the numerous achievements of the other states. Hence, although Pennsylvania has expended several millions of dollars more on internal improvements than any state in the Union, she has been but little noticed therefor. In Pennsylvania, party spirit, as in New York, has not been brought in as an auxiliary to our public works. Hence our march, though resolute and constant, has been silent and unostentatious. If we except three of the almost uninhabitable counties in the north-western part of this state, five-sixth of every part of the commonwealth is to be intersected by canals and railways, leaving no point at a greater distance from the highways than twenty-three miles when the works in actual progress shall have been wholly finished. We shall prove -- chiefly from official document, that from the year 1791 to July 1828, the enormous sum of $22,010,554 has been expended by the state and by corporations on canals, rivers, turnpike-roads, railways and bridges &c. -- and this exclusive of the sums expended by the state prior to the year 1791. We can also show that additional works are in actual progress and that they will be finished at an additional expense estimated at $12,450,000, making a grand total of $34,460,554, expended in Pennsylvania in forty years, from 1791 to 1831 (the time we pen this article) for internal improvements. From the year 1791 to 1828, 265 companies have been incorporated by the legislature for the purpose of effecting various internal improvements ! The first act passed in America for a railway for general purposes of commerce was that to Mr. Stevens and others, to make a railway from Columbia to Philadelphia -- 84 miles. The parties did not execute their plan, but the state has it in hands to execute it quickly. (Since flourished.) Since the year 1792, 168 companies have been incorporated to make about 3110 miles of turnpike roads -- of these 102 have gone into operation and have constructed nearly 2380 miles of roads at an expense of $8,431,059. The numerous bridges, which have been erected over almost every stream in Pennsylvania -- many of them then very expensive ones, have given to us the title of "the state of bridges". Some of the county bridges have been constructed at an expense of from thirty to forty and even to sixty thousand dollars. The Schuylkill permanent bridge, was the first great structure of the kind attempted in America, executed at an expense of $300,000. The Lancaster, or upper ferry-bridge (since supplied by the wire-bridge) was composed of one arch of 328 feet of cord. A span exceeding any other in the world. Our wooden bridges, generally, are unrivalled in number, magnitude and scientific boldness of design. William Penn, in his proposals for a second settlement in Pennsylvania as published in 1690, alludes to the practicability of effecting "a communication by water" between the Susquehanna and a branch of the river Schuylkill -- A singular presentiment of a project actually commenced in one century afterwards. And at a still earlier period -- say in 1613, Sir Samuel Argal wrote home to England saying he had the hope to see a cut made between the bays of Chesapeake and Delaware. And the Modern Universal History edition of 1763 says there is an easy communication with Maryland which comes within four miles of the Chesapeake bay -- also, that a project was once set on foot for joining the river and bay by an artificial canal, (now done) but it met with such opposition from the inhabitants of Virginia and Maryland "that it came to nothing". Numerous letters are now extant, which besides their originality of views, prove beyond all doubt that the union is indebted to Pennsylvania for the first introduction of canals and turnpikes to the public attention. Yet this fact, susceptible as it is of every proof, is hitherto scarcely known to the mass even of our own population. Some of our citizens almost denying the existence of the works which their own means had created, and thus assisting to swell the praises of other states, to the prejudice and neglect of their own. If Pennsylvania is to be censured, it cannot be for supineness and want of enterprise. It cannot be for sins of omission, but of commission. The fault, if any, has been that she has done what she ought to have left undone. She exercised her energies, if to blame, prematurely. She was in advance of the spirit of the age, and her example in commencing the first canal to connect the eastern and western waters, which if successful then, would have stimulated other states, even then, to rivalry, proved by its failure (and all things failed under L'Enfant's engineering, although deemed a premier) a beacon which warned them to shun her course, and withal to husband their resources, till more wealth and better qualified agents could be obtained. Some of the correspondence above alluded to, respecting the introduction of canals, is as early as the year 1750 to `60; and although it had but little efficient power then, it nevertheless was the entering wedge which drove to important future results. If our information be correct, we may attribute to David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, and to Doctor William Smith, provost, the credit of being the first labourers in this important measure. Afterwards Robert Morris, and still later, Robert Fulton, lent their powerful assistance. In the year 1762, David Rittenhouse, and Doctor William Smith, we believe at the same time, surveyed and levelled a route for a canal to connect the waters of the Susquehanna and Schuylkill rivers, by means of the Swatara and Tulpehocken creeks. The Union canal, which has since accomplished this object, passes over a portion of this route, which was surveyed for a canal in the time of the colonies. The views of the projectors of this work were, if the difficulties of that period are considered, far more gigantic and surprising than have been entertained by their successors any where. They contemplated nothing less than a junction of the eastern and western waters of Lake Erie and the Ohio, with the Delaware, on a route of five hundred and eighty-two miles. All this, too, at a period, when the country itself was comparatively a wilderness and without population -- looking to the future as a means to surely realize so splendid a scheme of internal communication. Let the European journalists, who carp at our deficiencies, contemplate such facts by a new people ! In 1764, they induced the American Philosophical Society to order a survey for a canal to connect the Chesapeake bay with the Delaware -- a work now acomplished. These laudable efforts were ably seconded by the provincial legislature which about the same time authorized a survey on a route, extending five hundred and eighty-two miles, to Pittsburg and Erie. The result was, that the measure was strongly recommended as a feasible project, whenever the public resources should warrant the noble undertaking. As soon after the war of Independence, as circumstances would permit, the scheme was begun. On the 29th September 1791, a company was incorporated to effect a portion of the plan, of whom Robert Morris, David Rittenhouse, William Smith, Tench Francis and others, were named as commissioners. They were authorized to connect the Susquehanna and Schuylkill by a canal of slack water navigation. Thus beginning the first link in the great chain intended to connect Erie and Pittsburg and Philadelphia. The intended great union is distinctly recognized in the act as then promulgated. Commercial embarrassments which befell some of the chief stockholders, and withal misapplied money, in a case wherein we had so little of experience, compelled a suspension of the operations. This circumstance, and the suspension some years afterwards of the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, had a most retarding effect on every other similar enterprise. Frequent attempts were made from the year 1795 to resume operations; and there cannot be a doubt, that if the state had immediately on the first appearance of embarrassments, bestowed that liberal help -- eventually proffered when too late -- that these canals would have been completed. The Union canal, intended to unite the former interests, was created by an act of the year 1811, and still preserving the ultimate purpose of extending its course to Lake Erie. Its subsequent history being an affair of much more modern time, it is not necessary to detail its progress down to its completion. The reader who desires that information is referred to the facts as ably drawn up by George W. Smith, Esq., to whom I am indebted for much of the foregoing notices, and whose ample expose on the subject of our internal improvements, is published in the Register of Pennsylvania, vol. i. p. 405. "The time will come, (said Fulton's letter to Governor Mifflin) when canals shall pass through every vale -- wind round every hill, and bind the whole country in one bond of social intercourse !" And so it is even now !!! The turnpike on the Lancaster road, formed in 1792-3, was the first in the United States, and that of Germantown and Perkiomen in 1800-1 was the next in order in Pennsylvania. It may be remarked of our citizens that they seem more indifferent than others to that self-gratulation and public cheering which leads to great results in other communities. For instance, they go on to the accomplishment of great public works without despondency in the progress, and with little or no public display, or commemorative fetes or festivals. These remarks are elicited by contemplating the tame and unobtrusive manner in which the public officers, and public journals, announced the completion of such great works as "the Schuylkill navigation" in the year 1825, and "the Union canal" in the month of December 1827. No public processions or rejoicings of any kind have marked those great public events. The waters from the Susquehanna have been permitted to mingle with the Schuylkill and Delaware without a single effort to mark the anniversary of such an auspicious event, although involving in its consequences hopes as enlivening and cheering as "the grand canal", so called, itself. Already has the very name of the first boat arriving by the Schuylkill navigation canal been lost to fame. This stint of praise and distinction is only equalled by the singularly tame and unexhilarating annunciation of the first certain completion of the Union canal. It first comes before the public eye on the 2d January 1828, in the form of "an extract of a letter" of the 30th December "from William Lehman to the managers" stating that "the boat Susquehanna had passed the Summit level with a load of coal from the Susquehanna and might be expected to arrive at Philadelphia on the 1st January". Such great news the gazettes present without any editorial remarks or display of their flying heralds trumpeting praise far and wide. Contented with the fact, they make no parade or flourish. Thus a great public event which in other cities gives occasion to splendid and golden books and imperial presents and letters, produces no general sensation or enthusiasm here. We cannot but see, however, that eventually, railroads and canals are destined to become the arteries by which the life blood of our corporate body -- the nation -- is to be extended with equal vitality to every part. They will go on until they join us to the Rocky mountains, and thence again, beyond them to the Pacific ocean. A universal inland communication is fast progressing. Never again shall we experience, in case of war with a foreign enemy, the evils before witnessed by their ascendency on the ocean, even if we should be inferior in power, in another war on that element. Hereafter, we can transport soldiers and munitions of war, to any point of our country which may need their presence; but formerly, a foreign fleet could change its positions of annoyance at any time and place where we were least prepared, or least expected its assault. In the war of 1812, such were the difficulties of inter-communication, that while cotton was 6 cents a pound, and sugar 3 cents per pound, in New Orleans, cotton was worth 40 cents, and sugar 30 cents in New England. Flour, too, could only bring $2 in the western country, was worth $15 in New England. Hereafter, such articles of home production will go from the south-west and west, to the eastern cities on the seaboard, to one to two cents a pound ! What can hinder the progress and happiness of such a people as we, but our own disunion, mismanagement, or sins ! Chapter 35. RIVER DELAWARE "Not distant far the time -- when, in thy solitude sublime, No sail was ever seen to skim thy billowy tide, Save light canoe, by artless savage plied." P. Heylin, in his Cosmography, says the Indians called that river Arasapha, and the bay Poutaxat. William Penn, in his letter of 1683, thus describes the fish of the Delaware, to wit : "Sturgeons play continually in our river. Alloes, as they call them (the Jew's Alice) and our ignorants, shades (shad !) are excellent fish. They are so plentiful that six hundred are drawn at a draught. Fish are brought to the door, both fresh and salt. Six alloes, or rocks, for twelve pence, and salt fish at three farthings per pound. Oysters two shillings per bushel." In the year 1733, the governor proposes to the assembly to adopt the practice of other countries in placing buoys for the channel of the Delaware, and to appoint pilots under proper regulations. These things are said to be suggested in consequence of the difficulties of navigation, and the frequency of shipwrecks. They seem, however, to have got along awhile without them, for the buoys were not introduced into use until the year 1767. In 1746-7, John Harding, a miller, built the wharf and made a windmill on the muddy island against the town. He, however, took a fever by working in the mud and died. His son, who succeeded him, gave it its finish, and both expended about £600 in the works. The windmill was in operation but a few years, when it had the misfortune to have the top and sails blown off in a violent gust, and was borne in the air to Joshua Cooper's orchard on the Jersey shore ! There it was seen as a play place for boys many years afterwards. This was declared by Mr. John Brown, who saw it. At a later period a bakehouse was erected there, which as Thomas Hood told me, did much business. They had also a frame tavern, and sold milk. In time the tavern was left untenanted, when some skating boys at night made it into a great bonfire, for the interest of the town beholders. Captain Smith's lodgment at the north end is a modern affair, and probably better than any preceding one. Professor Kalm, when here in 1748, said it was the remark of the old Swedes and other oldest persons, that the rivers and brooks decreased, whilst the seashores increased. As facts, they stated, that mills which sixty years before were built on waters with a sufficiency of head, had since so little as to be kept idle but in times of rains and snows. Aoke Kalm remembered several places in the Delaware, since made islands of a mile in length, over which he used to row in a boat. Mr. McClure made a scientific and minute survey of the state of our tides in the Delaware, the facts concerning which may be seen at length in my MS. Annals, page 325, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. It deserves to be mentioned, as being now a remarkable characteristic of the Delaware -- the abundance of its oysters. Fifty years ago, when fewer persons were accustomed to eat oysters, and when the few that were eaten were all trundled about the streets on wheelbarrows, the oysters of the Delaware were scarcely thought of, or named. The good livers then only feasted on salt oysters from the seashore. As these ran out, by increased demand, those of the Delaware came into notice. Their consumption has since increased every year, and the writer, among others, began to fear they must also be exhausted; but it is not so -- by a kind consideration of Providence, it seems to be their nature to increase with the disturbance and stirring of their beds; and they are also taken in deeper waters. It has been matter of surprise to many, that our oyster beds, though so much fished, should still continue to afford a sufficient supply. Philadelphia city has increased its consumption several hundred fold, and vessels from New York are constantly supplying themselves with loads, to carry to their own nurseries. Some vessels also take them to transplant at Egg Harbour. Long Island and Egg Harbour oysters, when sold as so superior in size and flavour, are still to be regarded as natives of our own bay. Besides our own city supply from our bay, we are latterly receiving great quantities from the Chesapeake through the Delaware canal. From the 7th October to the 16th December 1840, there passed through that canal, for our city use, 4230 tons; and at the time of writing this fact, there is actually lying at Spruce street wharf eighteen vessels freighted with oysters -- a real fleet of luxurious diet for the city `bon-vivants' ! It is said to be a fact, that much more oysters are consumed in Philadelphia than in New York, where the price, once so cheap, is now so very high. Having been at some pains to learn something of the present and past state of our oyster beds in the bay, I have arrived at sundry conclusions, such as these : -- that our fields of oysters, notwithstanding their constant delivery, are actually on the increase, and have been augmenting in extent and quantity, for the last thirty or forty years. This fact, strange to the mind of many, is said to be imputable to the great use of the dredging machines, which, by dragging over a greater surface, clears the beds of impediments, and trails the oysters beyond their natural position, and thus increases the boundaries of the field. These dredges are great iron rakes, attached to the vessel by iron chains, and which trail through the oyster beds while the vessel is moving over them by the force of the wind in her sails. In this way many more oysters are dragged and loosened from the mud than the rake will take up, and thus are left free to propagate another future supply. It is said to be a false kindness to oysters to let them alone, as they did at New York to their famous "blue points", by a protecting law which served only to have them so covered with mud, as to actually destroy them. An old oysterman informed me, as an instance of the increase of oyster beds, that he used to visit a little one, thirty years ago, of one to two hundred feet long, and therefore very difficult to find, which now is a quarter of a mile long and growing, known as "the new bed". There is a field of size, also beds of size, off Benj. Davis' point, and Maurice river, N.J., and off Mahant's river, Delaware side. Since the formation of the Breakwater, lobsters and blackfish have come there in quantities. By-and-by we may expect much increase of them there ! It is discovered to be a fact, in all the ponds found in the sedge marshes, lining the two shores of the Delaware, that in them are found the best oysters; and that in one of them called the "Ditch" which is an artificial canal cut into the marsh, fine oysters are always to be fished out. It has been remarked by my informant, and corroborated by others, that although oysters are found in salt water, they will not bear to be removed to water which is salter. Experiments have been made of hanging a basket of bay oysters over the vessel's side exposed to the salter sea water, and they have been found to die in twelve hours. Hence the necessity of planting them in waters less salt, or at least not salter than their native beds. Those caught after a copious rain are said to be much finer than those taken from the same place before the rain. The oyster is of a tenacious nature, attaching its gelatinous substance to almost all bodies with which it comes in contact -- such as wood, iron, stone. When they are found attached to glass bottles, they are always found much fatter for it. The influence of mud to destroy, and of fresher water to fatten oysters, is well understood by their experience at New Haven, as told in Barber's History, page 106. Those who make a business of transplanting, come early in the season and carry them away in their boats to the inland waters about Egg Harbor &c., from whence they are taken in the fall, quite fat, and carried over land to the city market and sold as Egg Harbor oysters. As in a good degree connected with the use and incidents of the Delaware, we here offer a graphic description of good old Burlington, intimately connected with the pleasure scenes and reminiscences of our own boyhood. Most feelingly we understand the picture as here drawn. Many must remember it. Ah, old acquaintance ! there thou art -- I hail thee with a beating heart, I'll sing of thee, before we part, Green bank of Burlington. May I a passing tribute pay, Where many a happy school-boy day, In years for ever past away, I play's upon thy bank. At early morn I thought thee fair, At noon thou hadst the freshest air, Thy evenings only could compare With Eden's lovely bowers. And most enchanting was the grace That marked the ladies of the place, In walk, in form, in mind, in face, Like mother Eve of old. Your melons were for flavour rare, Your cream and strawberries sweetest were, Your luscious peach, and juicy pear, The rich and poor partook. By pebbly shore and lofty tree, Our good old bathing place I see, Where school-boys all with loudest glee, To dive, and swim, repair'd. Lightly that batteau seems to glide, In such a one I loved to ride, With helm in hand, her course to guide, While briskly blew the breeze. `Twas sweet to leave the tiresome book, A dozen silvery fish to hook, Then take them home to plague the cook, To clean and fry them all. My tale of pleasure is begun, We also sometimes got a gun, Through mud and mire all day to run; On Neshamony's marshy flats. How spreads this river like a bay, I've skated on it many a day, While Bristol boys have had a fray, And feats of skating show'd. Keenly the crowded wharf I view, And cannot see one face I knew, But good Ben Shepherd's ever true, At every varying tide. I could have sprung from off the deck To give his hand a hearty shake, For him, and for his city's sake, My dear old Burlington. Sadly my memory loves to trace The kindly smile of many a face Gather'd ere this in the resting place, With those of ages past. The lapse of almost forty years Has ended all their joys and cares, We hope they are the happy heirs Of immortality. No steamboat then in stately pride, Made rapid way `gainst wind and tide, A shallop then its place supplied, The goodly sloop May Flower. [This packet belonged to Captain Myers, a well known skipper.] Thy sister cities have the fame, Of battles fought, and warlike name, Thy ancient records lay no claim To bloody tales like these. Thy precincts show no battle-field, Where haughty foes were forced to yield And many a brave one's fate was seal'd In death upon the plain. Ere Trenton saw the deadly fray, Thou wast not idle in thy way; Bold spirits suited to their day, Withstood a tyrant's rule. In thy Town Hall these patriots sate, And there resolved to share the fate Of every suffering sister state With them to stand or fall. I cannot see Saint Mary's fane; It often gave me heartfelt pain To think how oft I've heard in vain Good Dr. Wharton preach. St. Mary's lifts no towering spire, For passing travellers to admire, Fit emblem of the Holy Sire Who fill'd her desk so long. I hear my fellow travellers say There is a locomotive's way, Where school boys used to fight and play In Dr. Staughton's time. And woodman's axe, with sturdy stroke Has long since fell'd the lofty oak, Where my poor neck I nearly broke, To gain a squirrel's nest. St. Mary's has a pastor now, Young, and New Jersey's bishop too, He needs must stand in public view, May God save him from pride. May he a shepherd's duty know, To lead his flock where fountains flow, And where perennial pastures grow, Beneath the sacred Cross. This steamer goes as if it flew, The city fades before my view --- We turn, I bid a long adieu To thee, sweet Burlington. William Castell, in his Book of Discovery, published in 1644, says of the Delaware river and people, to wit : "There is another river not fully discovered, but bigger than the former (the North river) called the South river. It lieth west by south, towards Virginia. The entrance into it is very wide, having Cape May to the east, and Cape Henlopen to the west. The chief inhabitants lying on the east side of the river. To the east are the Sicones and the Naranticones; on the west are the Miquans, the Senenquaans, and many more". Joshua Fisher, of Lewistown, Delaware, made the first known Bay-chart of the Delaware. The one from which all of our subsequent ones have been copied. It bears the imprint of London, 1756. The Pea Patch island, now a subject of dispute, is given therein at about its present distance from New Jersey, showing no appearance of having ever been annexed to that shore. How early it may have been drawn, is not now known; but it must be inferred to have been several years earlier than 1756, because the position of Cape Henlopen is therein ascribed to the joint observation of Joshua Fisher and Thomas Godfrey. The latter we know died in 1749, and had brought out his quadrant, and lent it to Mr. Fisher for trial in his surveys of the Delaware, as early as 1730. A large chart of the Delaware bay was published in London in 1779, called Debarre's chart, from the surveys of Lieut. Knight. It is worthy of remark, as testing the accuracy of Godfrey, that his position of Cape Henlopen, differs only ten miles from that now scrupulously ascertained by the United States' recent surveys. The shoals and oyster beds, as laid down in Fisher's chart, though generally in the same localities as now ascertained by the United States' survey, are very different in their lengths and breadths -- and especially those nearest the main land on both sides of the bay; the present surveys, showing much more of extended shoals near the main land, than have been given in Fisher's chart. In some instances, shoals then marked are now gone; and in other cases, new ones are formed. Chapter 36. RIVER SCHUYLKILL This name, given it by the Dutch, is said to express "Hidden river", it not being visible at its mouth as you ascend the Delaware. From the Indians it bore the name of Manajung, Manaiunk, and in Holmes' map it is called Nittabaconck. It is told as a tradition that the Indians called the river the mother, and that what is called "Maiden creek", a branch of the Schuylkill above Reading, was called Onteelaunee, meaning the little daughter of a great mother. The letter of Governor Stuyvesant of 1644 to Colonel Nicolls, says they discovered the Varsche Riviere -- the little freshwater river, in 1628. I have heard it conjectured that the flat ground of Pegg's marsh, and the low ground of Cohocsink swamp, are the beds of the Schuylkill, which may have passed there before Fairmount barrier gave way -- one channel having come from Fairmount of Pegg's swamp, and the other from the Falls of Schuylkill by Cohocsink. The particulars of this theory may be read in my MS. Annals, p. 352, 353, in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In the year 1701, William Penn writes to James Logan, saying, "Pray see the utmost of poor Marshe's project of navigating flats up Schoolkill and Susquehanna above the falls; he assuring me he could make the experiment for 40s. be it 50s. or £3, it were a mighty advantage". In 1722, the common council this year appointed a committee to examine a route to Schuylkill through the woods, and to fix upon the site of a ferry at the end of High street, whereupon it was resolved to address the assembly for an act for the same. The same year the corporation of Philadelphia made a causeway on both sides of the ferry, and appointed boats, &c. The ferrymen were to dwell on the western side, and to ferry persons over at one penny, horses 1d., cows and oxen 1 1/2d., cart or wagon 6d. to 1s., sheep 1/2d., &c. The upper and lower ferries were then called Roach's and Blunston's on private account. This one became of course "the middle ferry". In the year 1762, we see by a minute of the council that they then leased "the middle ferry" for three years, at £200 per annum. I am not able to say when the floating bridges were first introduced; but we know the British army made one across the Schuylkill when they held the city, which I believe they destroyed when leaving it, as it is known that Joseph Ogden built and kept a new bridge at the middle ferry, soon after they were gone. Mr. Kalm states that at the first building of Philadelphia, they erected sundry houses upon the Schuylkill side, which they afterwards removed to the Delaware side, on finding settlements there did not take. The river scenery and banks of Schuylkill were once picturesque and beautiful -- such as I have elsewhere described the "Baptisterion" at the end of Spruce street. Benjamin Franklin, too, said it was his custom when young to go out there with his companions, Osborne, Watson, Ralph, &c., to take a charming walk on Sundays in the woods then bordering on the river. There they used to sit down and read and converse together; now how changed the scene to a busy, bustling coal mart ? "Receding forests yield the labourers room, And opening wilds with fields and garlands bloom !" It is even now within the memory of aged men, when it was a great fishing place. Old Shrunk assured me he had caught as many as 3000 catfish of a night with a dip-net, near the Falls. Penn's letter of 1683 speaks of Captain Smith at Schuylkill, who drew "600 shades at a draught". In the year 1759, there appeared in the Gazette a writer from Berks, who greatly urges the advantages to be produced by clearing and opening the river channel. Some of them were then set upon by a subscription. The 4th of July 1824, being Sunday, the long desired era arrived of opening the canal from Reading to Philadelphia. Many witnessed the operations near Reading with great gratification. This is "the consummation devoutly to be wished !" A fact occurred in November 1832, which goes to confirm the theory, before advanced, that the Schuylkill once passed from the Falls by the way of the Cohocksink creek. In making a coffer dam, (the first one on the eastern side) to form the foundations of the railway-bridge at Peters' island, they came, at the depth of thirty feet of excavation, to the stump of a tree completely embedded in the soil, thus evincing that the course of the river has been changed from its original channel. -- See Poulson's Gazette of Nov. 20, 1832. I have in my possession, a copy of a curious old deed of the 2d of May 1681, from Peter Peterson Yocum, a Swede, to Niels Jonason, for two hundred acres of land to begin at a creek on the west side of Schuylkill above Arromink, called the little Quarnes fall, and thence, up along the river side to the Great-hill, being part of the original tract of 1100 acres granted by patent of Governor Lovelace at New York to Captain Flans Modens, i.e. Moens. [The Great hill, may be understood to be Conshohockin now -- and the Quatnes, (Quarries) the Little falls.] The place called Swedesford had a work of defence cast upon its margin by the Americans in the time of the Revolution. It was the crossing place then of the army. Near there was the Swedes' church, since rebuilt by the Episcopalians; the grave ground is well filled with Swedes, who very much settled along the Schuylkill. The Swedes used to go to the old church in considerable numbers, in antiquated and rude style of dress. The men went on foot or in canoes, the women on horseback, often riding double, and always with coarse outside petticoats, which could be seen hung along the fences in dozens, while the owners were in church -- their descendant daughters since scarcely know it. Chapter 37. COUNTRY SEATS It is intended herein to revive the recollection of sundry country seats nigh the city, once known to all, and now no longer arresting attention, to wit : BEDMINSTER was a neat country place, having a fine collection of fruit trees, at the N.E. corner of Brewer's alley and Fourth street. The same house, now an inn there, with a new gable-end, having cut off about fourteen feet once upon Fourth street. That place, when "far out of town" was the summer residence of the celebrated Gilbert Tennant. It was at another time the summer seat of the Baynton family. In the year 1755, it was advertised as "a very rural, agreeable place". Its proper front was upon the present Wood street, formerly called Brewer's alley, because of a brew-house once on that street, below Third street. SAMUEL BIRGE had a country seat -- the house still standing, with two corresponding out-houses fronting westward, and themselves now a little west of New Fourth street, near Poplar lane. When occupied as a seat, it was surrounded with fields and woods -- now it is shut in by common houses. THE ROBIN HOOD INN, in Poplar lane, near New Fourth street, was the summer residence of Abram Mitchell, and when occupied by a British officer in command of the British barracks, it was finely cultivated, and the woods in abundance near at hand. ALONG THE NORTHERN BANK OF PEGG'S RUN, west of Sixth street, were several neat country houses, some of them still standing, but all their former scenery utterly obliterated by streets and houses placed near them. The present "DROVER'S INN" on Sixth street is one of them. Near the corner of Tenth and Vine streets is now the remains of what was once a distinguished seat and farm. The house even now is surrounded by many old fruit and other trees -- at same time -- opposite to it is a long row of new and fashionable city houses -- a part of Palmyra row. WHARTON MANSION, in SOUTHWARK, fronting the river, back from the present Navy-yard, was a country house of grandeur in its day. It was of large dimensions with its lawns and trees -- and as a superior house, was chosen by the British officers of Howe's army for the celebration of the Meschianza. Now the house and all about its grounds looks only like a deserted, decaying place. TREVESKIN was the seat of Governor Gordon, down the Passyunk road, about a mile and a half below South street. It became the place of Israel Pemberton, and descended by his daughter, Mrs. Pleasants, to her family. The house is still standing. JUDGE KINSEY'S COUNTRY SEAT, out South street, near to the Schuylkill, was a very superior place. The respectable looking house, surrounded by big cedars, was standing till lately on the premises of the Naval asylum. It was, when built, the only good house between the city and Gray's ferry. It afterwards became the property of James Pemberton. On the other side of the road is now a similar country seat, built for Israel Pemberton, now the property of Mrs. Marshall, the daughter of Joseph Cruikshank, containing thirty-two acres and used as a milk farm by Mr. Webster. Brick kilns are now all about near the place. WILTON, the place once of Joseph Turner, down in the neck, was the 'nonpariel' of its day. It was the fashionable resort for genteel strangers. Every possible attention was paid to embellishment, and the garden cultivation was superior. The grounds had ornamental clumps and ranges of trees. Many statues of fine marble [sold from a Spanish prize] were distributed through the grounds and avenues. Some of them are now on the place, mutilated and neglected, and others of them are at "Chew's house" Germantown. The mansion house and out-houses, still standing, show in some degree their former grandeur. The ceilings are high and covered with stucco work, and the halls are large. In the time of the war, when occupied by the British, it got much abused -- even to chopping wood on the floors. The statues, too, made good marks for their sharpshooters, and PAN, now there in the cabbage garden, which long stood for the ideal presence of DIABOLUS himself, has many tokens of his fireproof. The property, now belonging to the heirs of Henry Hill, has long been used as a rented grazing farm, and shows much of desolation and neglect, created in some degree by a long and dubious point of legal ownership. SPRINGETTSBERRY, called after the name of William Penn's first wife, was once cultivated in the style of a gentleman's seat, and occupied by the Penn family. It was built, I believe, for Thomas Penn, about the year 1736 to '39, on a fine commanding situation a little south-west of Bush-hill. Celebrated as it was for its display and beauty, now almost nothing remains. The Preston retreat is now on the premises near the former house and gardens. Its former groves of tall cedars and ranges of catalpa trees are no more. For many years the Penn family continued to have the place kept up in appearance, even after they ceased to make it a residence. James Alexander, called Penn's gardener, occupied the premises; and old Virgil Warder and his wife, servant -- blacks, lived there to old age, occupying this kitchen as their home on an annuity (as it was said) from the Penn family -- paid to them till their deaths about the year 1782-3. For many years, the young people of the city -- before the war of Independence visited Springettsberry in May time to gather flowers, and to talk with and see old gray-headed Virgil, who had always much to say about the Penns of former days. It was all enchanted ground to the young Where once the garden smiled, And still, where many a garden flower grew wild !" In the year 1777, old Virgil had quite a harvest, derived from the blooming there -- a great wonder then -- of the great American aloe, which had long been nursed in the green-house. It was visited by many -- and all had their gifts ready for the old black man. The garden had evergreens, made into arbours and nicely trimmed and clipped in formal array. There was also a seeming wilderness of shade, with gravel paths meandering through &c. The place was in the occupancy of Robert Morris as a country retreat and was so used in 1784, when the mansion took fire and was consumed. BUSH-HILL, the country seat of Andrew Hamilton, Esq., near to the former place on an elevation, commanding a fine view of the then distant city, was once kept up in fine style as a distinguished country seat -- built in 1740 for Andrew Hamilton. In the rear were avenues of stately cedars -- some few still remaining; and in the front was a charmingly graceful descending green lawn gradually sloping down to Vine street. The original farm consisted of many acres, and has since descended to the family as valuable building lots. In the year 1693, the mansion-house and out-houses were used temporarily as a yellow fever hospital -- and afterwards it fell into the hands of Mr. M'Cauley, and was used as his carpet manufactory. In excavating there a new cellar for Mr. M'Cauley's use in 1832, they came to two lines of graves parallel to each other, with about fifteen graves in each line. They were deemed to have been aboriginal. No remains were found of either bones or ornaments, but a kind of residuum of decomposed substances, which was pronounced, by geological examiners, to have been animal deposit --"it looked like gray earth in ashes". The graves were all five feet long by two feet wide, and put at one and a half feet below the surface, and thence two and a half feet to the bottom. The rows stood north and south. Bushhill and Springettsberry were parts of the manor of Springettsberry. James Logan early saw the prospective value of this part of the manor, so near the city, and was very unwilling to part with any portion of it, but the difficulties of the Penn family made it necessary to yield it to others. Jonathan Dickinson bought a part; and a part was given to Andrew Hamilton for needful professional services as a legal counsellor &c., to the Penn family. A few country seats were located along the Ridge road, having the rear of their grounds extending back to the beautiful banks of the Schuylkill. Among such were Mifflin's place, Francis' place, Peale hall, and others. Those named were all set fire to at the same time, by the British -- saying as their excuse, that they could or did serve for look-out shelters for their enemies. Two country seats on Germantown road were also burnt -- Norris' place at Fairhill, and Charles Thomson's at Sommerville. STENTON, near Germantown, the residence of the Logan family, was originally taken up by James Logan, secretary &c., of William Penn. The family mansion was built in 1727 in a very superior manner. At one time the fields there were cultivated in tobacco. It was used for a short time by General Howe, and at one time was preserved from intended conflagration by the British, by the adroit management of the house-keeper then there, in charge of it. Familiar as I have been with the history and manuscript remains of the honoured proprietor, the first James Logan, I approach the secluded shades of Stenton, in which he sought retirement from the cares and concerns of public life, with such emotions as might inspire poetry, or soothe and enlarge the imagination. In truth, I feel with Sir Richard Steele, that on such an occasion, "I can draw a secret, unenvied pleasure from a thousand incidents overlooked by other men". At the present time there are standing some three or four old brick country residences distinguished in their day. One of double front from the road, in the lot on the northern side of the Arsenal, another stands opposite to the Arsenal, back from the road, having a circular window in the gable-end to the street and a piazza around the whole square of the building. Another stands at the angle of the ferry-road below the Arsenal, and shows its circular window to the road. It was built and resided in by Weiss, who inherited it from the Swedish family of Cocke. This Weiss was the first man to bring Lehigh coal to Philadelphia for experiment. He, bringing what he had in his saddle-bags, was laughed out of his hopes therein on its being tried for ignition in his cousin Dupuy's silver-smith furnace ! He died at Weissport, named Col. Jacob Weiss. Strange to tell, a former country-seat is even now in the centre of Philadelphia ! It is No. 2 South Thirteenth street. The same house where the five wheelbarrow men murdered a man, and were hung for it on the Centre square. Next : MISCELLANEOUS FACTS